Shotgun cartridge and shot for the same



1366- 1956 G. e. OBERFELL SHOTGUN CARTRIDGE AND SHOT FOR THE SAME Filed Feb. 16, 19 50 INVENTOR.

' G.G.OBERFELL M45 Q ATTORNEYS treated to impart a thin layer or film of material 30 which renders the pellets non-adherent by preventing metal to metal contact, and which may also inhibit or reduce the tendency of the shot to oxidize. This film 30-produced by surface-treating the pellets, has suflicient lubricating ability to permit the pellets to roll or slide easily over each other without adhering or sticking together; I am aware that it is very old to pour tallow, wax, or grease onto pellets in the shot charge, but the purpose of such practice is to increase the tendency of the shot to stick together and thereby obtain a very close or narrow pattern at the target, rather than to obtain an even distribution of the pellets over a larger area, as is obtained by my' invention. It is, of course, the purpose of the choke 8, of the gun 7 to likewise obtain a very close or dense pattern, but it does this by causing a relatively high concentration in the center of the pattern and a relatively less even distribution through the pattern than is obtained by my invention.

Owing to the unreliability of the tallow, wax, or grease treatment, it has never been widely practiced. The tallow, wax, or grease filled the interstices between the pellets more or less completely, and added considerably to the weight of the shot charge. I am also aware that it has been proposed in U. S. Patent 189,417 to fill the interstices between the pellets with finely-divided solid material. My invention differs from these prior practices in that I use'the very limited amount found necessary to surface-treat the pellets with material capable of preventing sticking and scuffing of the shot surfaces. Such treatment adds only a very small fraction of a percent to the weight of the shot charge. I am also aware that pellets have been copper coated, but I have found that coppercoated pellets tend to produce poorer patterns than shot which has not been copper coated. However, coppercoated shot obtained on the market produced better patterns when surface-treated by my invention.

Finely-divided, solid, non-sticking lubricating agents may be used to surface-treat the pellets by shaking or tumbling the pellets with the solid material. It is sometimes desirable to add an excess of the solid material and subsequently remove the excess by means of sieves, with blasts of air or the like. Materials which appear to be particularly applicable in my invention are powdered graphite and molybdenum disulfide, the latter being sold under the trade name of Molykote. Other materials which are less effective but which give improvement in some cases are talc and powdered laminar materials, such as mica. Liquid high-pressure surface-lubricants may be applied by the agitation by the mixture of pellets and the liquid or by spraying the liquid onto the shot surface. Any material 30 which will give a tough nonmetallic film of lubricating quality between the metallic surfaces 25 of the pellets 23 is satisfactory.

High-pressure lubricating oil additives were found valuable as the film 30 on the shot 23 in the present invention and were applied to the surface 25 of shot in the following manner: Shotgun shells were purchased in the open market. The shot charge from each shotgun shell was poured into a 100 cc. Florence flask, and two drops of the high-pressure lubricating oil additive were dropped onto the surface of the shot, which were then shaken by rotating the flask until the shot appeared to becovered with a uniform liquid film. Incidentally, one drop would probably have been sufiicient. If too much surfacetreating material is added to the shot, an undesirable amount of smoke will be noticeable when the charge is fired from the shotgun. After treating the shot charge as described above, the entire shot charge was returned to the shell and the crimp of the shotgun shell was restored. These high-pressure lubricating oil additives are so called because they give ordinary lubricating oil the power to resist high pressure and still lubricate. In

addition, some of these have anti-oxidizing, and other valuable properties.

An alloy of 99.8% lead and 0.2% arsenic; or lead with small amounts of antimony and/or arsenic, or similar alloys, are used in the metallic portion 25 of the shot of the prior art, and such shot may be used in the present invention. However, the shot may be composed of any other suitable metals or alloys.

While poisonous materials can be used in my invention so far as the effectiveness of the shotgun pattern is concerned, the use of such materials is not recommended when game animals are killed for food. Such poisonous materials giving satisfactory surface-treatment to the pellets may be used at target practice, such as in skeet and trap shooting.

Another method for use with lead shot 25 is to treat the shot with chemicals which form a layer 30 of lead sulfate, lead chromate, lead chloride, or lead sulfide on the surface, which layer tends to protect the lead shotfrom oxidation.

In my invention I may also apply a thin 30 of, 7

uncured phenolformaldehyde resin to the shot'pellets and cure the film in place. I may also use urea formaldehyde or melamine resins cured in place as films on.

the surface of the shot pellets. I may also apply regenerated cellulose or cellophane film by applying a film of,

In order to test the present invention, a number of shotgun shells were fired from the same 12 gauge gun having a 26-inch improved cylinder barrel at paper targets placed at a distance of 40 yards. A 30-inch circle was then located on each target so as to include the maximum number of perforations made by the individual pellets. After said 30-inch diameter circle is so located, then" the target is studied to see how many five-inch diameter circles can be drawn, which five-inch circles do not intersect each other, do not surround any shot perforation, and yet lie entirely inside said 30-inch circle. Each'such' unperforated five-inch circular areais known to those skilled in the art as a five-inch patch, the area being'just that which could be occupied by a duck or similar sized' game bird or animal, within said 30-inch circle, without said duck being immediately killed by the shot pellets-r:

Obviously the larger the number of five-inch patches in a pattern, the poorer the shotgun shell, and the more; game animals that escape unharmed or in a crippled or slightly wounded condition.

but five-inch patches are representative and about the average size for game hunted with a 12-gauge shotgunand No. 6 shot. The shotgun shells were all lZ-gaugeshells containing 1.25 ounces of No. 6 shot from the same lot of the same manufacturer. The opening of the-individual shells was made very carefully, andall the shells were opened and reassembled after the surface treatment of the shot. The control shell, likewise, was opened, the number of pellets counted, and those pellets returned to the control shell, omitting the surface-treatment; The, following comparative results were obtained with the surface-treated pellets as compared with the untreated pellets:

Other size patches could" be selected for calculations involving other size game,'

The particular high-pressure lubricating oil additive used in the above test was Lubrizol 1851C which comprises a barium salt of a substituted phenol-formaldehyde condensate. This material in addition to its high-pressure lubricating values has anti-oxidizing and other similar valuable qualities in lubricating oil, and these same qualities add to its value in the present invention. Other high-pressure lubricating oil additives give valuable results in the practice of the present invention as the film on the shot.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed for the purpose of illustration the invention is not limited thereto but is defined in scope by the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A shotgun cartridge characterized by having a projectile charge of metallic shot pellets coated with a coating consisting essentially of barium salts of substituted phenol-formaldehyde condensate, said coating being sufficiently thick to inhibit oxidation, metal to metal contact and welding and sticking together of said pellets under the pressure of the explosion of said shotgun cartridge.

2. Shot for use in shotguns comprising metal pellets coated with a coating consisting essentially of barium salts of substituted phenol-formaldehyde condensate, said coating being sufiiciently thick to inhibit oxidation, metal to metal contact and welding and sticking together of the pellets during use.

3. A shotgun cartridge characterized by having a prw jectile charge of metallic shot pellets coated with an oxidation inhibiting, metal to metal contact inhibiting film of a non-metallic material comprising barium salts of substituted phenol-formaldehyde condensate of sufiicient thickness whereby metal to metal contact of the pellets is prevented during the firing of the shotgun cartridge and the tendency of the shot to cling together during its passage through the shotgun is substantially reduced. I

4. Shot for use in shotguns comprising metal pellets coated with an oxidation inhibiting, metal to metal contact inhibiting film of a non-metallic material comprising barium salts of substituted phenol-formaldehyde condensate of sufiicient thickness whereby metal to metal contact is prevented and the tendency of the shot to cling together in use is substantially reduced.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 204,298 Crooke May 28, 1878 207,582 Wright Aug. 27, 1878 573,120 Wheeler Dec. 15, 1896 2,579,329 Martin Dec. 18, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 8,820 Great Britain of 1913 498,923 Great Britain Jan. 11, 1939 

